Telefónica’s Terra plans LatAm OTT venture

Spanish telco Telefónica’s Internet unit Terra is considering launching a video-streaming service, which would cover countries from the US to Brazil, to compete with operators such as Netflix – which launched in more than 40 Latin American and Caribbean countries in 2011 – and Carlos Slim’s recently-announced Ora.TV operation, reports Bloomberg.

Terra, which has provided content online in Latin America for over ten years, is rebranding its service as ‘SundayTV’, adding more content providers, securing online content distribution deals and enhancing the technology.

Fernando Madeira, Terra’s chief executive, reported that the company ended 2011 with 75,000 paying subscribers in the region and half a million registered users, or those who purchase content occasionally on its existing Terra.TV website.

“The goal is pretty high: we want to reach 250,000 paying subscribers and close to a million registered users by year-end,” he told Reuters. Basic monthly fees for the six countries where SundayTV launched last week – Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Brazil – average US$7, similar to what Netflix is charging in the region.

“We want to be in all Latin American countries in the first half of the year,” Madeira said. “And there is a plan to reach, possibly by year end, the United States and Europe too.”